PiS is not hiding the fact that it wants to destroy the independent courts in Poland. It is admitting this in its election programme. It is promising the liquidation of the current courts and the establishment of new ones with ‘its own’ judges. Independent judges will be removed or retired

The Law and Justice (PiS) party chairman promised a final crackdown on the courts at an election rally. In practice, this will mean liquidating the current courts, removing independent judges from them and appointing ‘their own.’ If PiS wins the elections and does this, it will result in a major clash with the EU.

The president of the District Court in Bydgoszcz does not intend – at least for the time being – to stand up in defence of the three judges in whose judgment Przemysław Radzik took an interest. ‘I believe the defence of the independence of the court also requires me, just as any judge, to be prudent in my comments,’ Jarosław Błażejewski tells us.

The new, politically elected National Council of the Judiciary will meet at an extraordinary session next Monday, 28 August. It was called by Justice Minister Zbigniew Ziobro to oppose what he claims to be the ‘politicisation of the judiciary.’ The NCJ is also expected to support Ziobro in further ‘reforming’ the courts. ‘This meeting will be a tribute of the NCJ’s surrender to Ziobro,’ Iustitia’s press officer tells Onet.

‘This can be an instrument for initiating operational control, namely wiretapping, for conducting criminal proceedings and therefore for intimidation,’ Counsellor Marcin Wolny of the Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights tells Onet about the provision regarding disinformation in the PiS deputies’ so-called Spy Act, which has already been passed.

MPs from the ruling coalition have enacted a special provision intended to remove one judge from the profession. This applies to the former deputy head of the legal NCJ, Piotr Raczkowski. The community of judges announces his defence, because the provision is in breach of the Constitution and European law

Examples of specific proceedings and decisions show what Zbigniew Ziobro and Jarosław Kaczyński stand to gain from staffing the courts with ‘their own people’.

While wondering whether the change in the regulations is good, it would be worth asking yourself who will benefit from it. Local governments, residents and nature will lose out on the change in the Assessment Act, while the government and the investors it selects will gain on the basis of criteria known only to the politicians. Good change?

‘We cannot remain silent in the light of such an intensity of ill will and such a gross violation of fundamental human and civil rights. It is also our duty, which arises from our judicial conscience and our knowledge of the law, to point out that cooperation with the commission according to the principles of this unprecedented act constitutes a violation of values that are dear to our traditions and respect for the common good,’ wrote the retired judges of the Constitutional Tribunal.

The commission investigating Russian influence, seen as a tool against Donald Tusk and the ‘enemies’ of PiS, could result in the blocking of EU funds for Poland.